10 Things We're Talking About This Week: 5/4/12

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10 Things We're Talking About This Week: 5/4/12

Let's Get It Started

1/12

The Obamas are officially kicking off Campaign 2012 this weekend, but they’re in fighting form already: Mrs. O attended a fundraiser this week where the 130 guests paid at least $2,500. And the Prez traveled to, err, Afghanistan marking the anniversary of Osama’s death.

The Darker the Berry

2/12

New Jersey mom Patricia Krentcil does 12-minute tanning sessions 20 times a month. Holy cow. Her story introduced me to word I’d never heard: Tanorexia. As a favor, I’ll share one that she should become familiar with before it’s too late: melanoma.

Photo by AP Images

Scene Stealer

3/12

Quvenzhané Wallis has run away with my heart. Watch the trailer for the Hollywood newcomer’s upcoming movie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and she’ll snatch yours too. See it here.

Photo by Jess Pinkham

Being Bobby Brown

4/12

“The bad boy image is just part of the performance, the stage presence.” Landon Brown speaking about his dad, Bobby, on Today. Hmm. Where do drug arrests and jail stint fit into that?

Photo by Getty Images

What's in a Name?

5/12

Stacy Swimp is trying to start something. The member of the conservative group Project 21 doesn’t want to be called African American and, in fact, says, “Many people… are still saying ’I’m African American,’ as if they’re stuck on the plantation, as if we just got off the boat.” WTH? Yet he’s fine with ‘Black.’ A color. That none of us are. Was Crayola in charge of picking racial designations back in the day?

Photo by project21.org

Hero Un-Defined

6/12

John McCain, discussing President Obama using Osama bin Laden’s death in his campaign, says heroes “don’t brag.” By that standard, John’s not a war hero because he didn’t go a day back in 2008 without reminding us of his time in the POW camp.

Photo by Getty Images

Broadway Love

7/12

I saw Stick Fly. I loved it. And now Condola Rashad gets a Tony nom. Love that too. But why no love for the play?

Photo by Getty Images

Banned Band

8/12

I’d crack on Florida A&M’s Marching 100, but some things are too serious. I just hope the state attorney who charged 13 Rattlers in the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion can make them stick.

Through a Child's Eye

I’ve rarely been angrier than I was on April 29, 1992. But I was living in New York, a country away from the L.A. riots. Check out how children viewed those dark days in a moving documentary.

Photo by Corbis

Tootie Ramsey: Role Model

11/12

Brooklyn native MC Lyte stopped by ESSENCE this week and told us why she moved to L.A.: 10-foot-high snow drifts in New York, the beautiful view at Queen Latifah’s Cali home, and watching Facts of Life as a kid. “Tootie was out in L.A. on television. I want to be where Tootie was,” she told us.